Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-08-07
A FATEFUL MESSAGE.
INTERESTING "REMINISCENCES BY 4 WAR
TELEGRAPHER
A Private Line that Proved to be 4 GOiS5ld Il
V.cHsburg Touching Messages that Daily
Passed Over the Wire
GlIre.i0M N.lr.

| IA CHARLESTON Ns7rs
| The following is condensed account OF
the adventures of Confederate, who, like
many thousands of Others, had hard
row TO hoe for a while, and who, like
those who have not since the eventful days
of the late war passed over the river, or
i'll soldiers yernacular passed in his
checks" occasionally takes retrospective
view of those grand and eveutful times
and considers it Il matter Of
wouderment that he still walks
the earth n thing of life; aye, and feel
ing younger and teshrr than he did y
/ years ago, "A boy among the boys, - still
pursuing the ayOCat!OnS Of lite, with hope
as buoyant a. when he shOuldered arms
and marched with elastic step To the sound
of "Od Tom ROach's clarinet over the
grand old hills OF NickSburg, the admirl-
/ ton of the lovely girls, perfect hero III his
own estimation, imagining the eyes OF the
world upon him in awful w0nderment.
This much as an Introductory. Hailing
I lIbIll IlNNNA'll1 lNN., blNN at Ailt A''lllNAN'
ment OF the late unplcasantness temporari-
| " residing in Nicksburg the enthusiasm
| SO prevalent in the Hill city over the pros
pect of giving the Mortimer trial of
strength was, like other epidemics, catch
| inc: and the writer's system becoming
perfectly impregnated with the disease,
and not findings remedy, allowed il to
| take such hold that he al once wrote his
name in bold hand a. a member Of the
! Vicksburg Cadets, ~ noble a command rs
ever shouldered arms, and with u captain
! Jesse White true type of the noble
Southern youth Of those days, who repre-
scented all that was chiyalrous, honorable,
fearless fact Gods nobIeSt work, a
perfect gentleman
| The writer of this being at that time Il
sound telegraph operator something then
80 rare in the South, rs men of that pro
fessiOn, mostly hailed from the North, 81
| lentv folded their tents and he'd them
| selves northward on the commencement Of
| hOstilties ut once ordered from his
command, receiving instructions TO report
| for duty, in the capacity of operator at Cor
! NTH. Miss. TO describe the events of the
memorable battle OF Shiloh would prove 4
thrice told tale, and only a repetition ul
what has been related thousand times.
| But memory will still rise and assert its
! functions. and hundreds of little kilograms
handled by the writer present themselves,
such as ".Tohn was badly wounded, but
hope for the best. ."
Poor Willie was killed, calamity charg-
ing the enemy. Will send remains
! home
Brother James arm amputated; may
pull through. Break the news to mother
gently
Thank God brother and | all right.
| Love to all. y
General Sidney johnson killed. We
had the pleasure of taking breakfast this
morning in the enemy's camp, they having
kindly prepared and left it for our ben
! eft "
| Hundreds of others came thick and fast,
! taxing the operators night and day To their
fullest capacity.
Are you safe? We await in GREATNESS
suspense
ooh. heavens, No telegram a. you
promised. Are you hurt Geta turlough
and come home
Many 500 has the writer been offered
by clamorOuS soldiers Just from the front
to send his message first, ~ his wife or
other dear ones would 20 crazy il no mes
| sage from him.
These little kilograms, though flashed
over the wire quarter of "A century ago,
are as vivid in the writer's memory rs II
'twcrc but yesterday.
Well, we fell back and the writer was
ordered to report at once to General VI. l..
Smith, commanding at Nirkshurg, where,
in Il few days. up Ia our eyes in kilograms
destined for President Davis and Others IN
authority, with thousands of other trIr-
grams for Vicksburg, we soon discovered
that Il general war operator WAS no child :
play, and that 10 he with ones command
would he far more preferable.
\ grand old telcgrapher Lee 5. Daniel,
now master Of transportation OF the MacI-
roui railroad, running from Rosenberg tn
Victoria, was then manager of the NlCkS
burg office, and finer OF more rapid tcle
graphcr never handled 4 key or welded a
pen and he, | know, can never forget those
busy and exciting days never think ol
my old partner except with the feelings Of
a brother.
His dear old form and face, as he APP
pearcd in those days, will ever be before
me. He was Sampson i'll the lost cause.
Before the war private citizen, Dr. tior-
ace Tibbets, living at Pennsylvania land
ing, on the Mississippi river, caused to be
established telegraph line from Nicks-
burg to Lake Providence. This line he
built Tor his own private use III order that
he might have the news of the day cacn
morning tclcgraphed TO him when spend
ing 4 while on his plantations each year,
~ was the custom 0i large planters.
This little line proved to he a godsend
Ia the CunicderLtes at NicksbuGg, for -
soon rs the news of the downfall of Mem
phis was received Lee Daniel was ordered
10 Transatlantic Ia take charge of said
wire, keeping 4 strict lookout iOr any Fed.
cral boats coming down the river * the
Federals would no doubt make an attack
on Vickshurg. The writer was ordered
across the river opposite Nicksburg, with
instructions not to he absent from his post
more than one hour ut time. All bat
terirs At NiCksburg were ordered to respect
my red light at night and green flag by
day when crossing the river i'll Il skiii
which ! used for the purpose OF sending
for supplies and forwarding any news tC
the general commanding.
One dark and stormy night Il shall
never forget it, had met several OF In,
soldier boys from Houston-my old school
mates, most OF them-many long since
dead, but hop not forgotten, and natu'
rally we enjoyed ourselves, causing the
writer to overstay his time somewhat.
Although having on board a considerable
amount of Louisiana rum, the only drink
Obtainabe in Nicksburg, an idea took pos
session OF me that il was very important
should he ut my post At once, rs something
might occur, which, should it occur with
ont my knowledge, would render 4 deser'
ton Of the Coniederacy necessary on my
part.
The wind was blowing a hurricane aud
the waves OF the old Mississippi were fear
ful to gaze upon | feared my lrall craft
would hardly live III such a sea, but know
ing il to be all my own fault that ! had
been caught in such storm on the wrong
side of the river determined me 10 cross at
all hazards. After superhuman efforts ]
reached the Ouisilnl shore in safety.